Lost Ideas
by AnimeFan202
Summary: Sora is convinced she's lost the ability to love. Hoping to recover all that's lost, she and Tai set out on a journey, oblivious to the fact that those they've left behind aren't nearly as fine as they thought. Taiora!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I know I said when I did another Digimon story it would be a little different from my past ones… and this is, but it wasn't the story I was planning when I said that. XD Hurray for random inspiration. **

**I also wasn't going to put another story up so soon as I'm finally getting around to updating my other ones, but… well, we've all seen how my willpower's worked with that so far… I just hope you all continue to enjoy this story as much as you've seemed to enjoy the last ones.**

**This is set after season one.**

**Chapter One**

Sora walked down the halls of her high school and smiled at her friends and acquaintances, but she felt nothing. Mimi had given her a surprise early gift for her birthday and she felt nothing. She sat across from her mother at the dinner table for the first time in what felt like forever and felt nothing. Tai asked her to the school dance and she accepted… but felt nothing.

It took Sora a little while to piece everything together. In the end, she was surprised by the simplicity of the answer. All these emotions that she'd lost were connected to love.

She lay on her bed, staring at her ceiling, trying to calm herself from such ideas. Hadn't she already caused herself enough heartbreak by convincing herself she wasn't able to love once? But that was just it… this time, she couldn't feel her heart breaking.

As she lay there, her crest began to glow from where it sat on her desk. She sat up and looked at it expectantly, hoping to feel something, but nothing came. The Crest of Love was glowing, but not from any of her doing. She didn't move as her computer began to glow as well. The light grew to a blinding level, and when she opened her eyes again, her crest was gone.

Dumbfounded, she stared for a few more minutes. Slowly, she slid off her bed and walked to her desk, placing her fingertips where her crest had once been. Her Digivice lay right where she'd left it, unaffected by the spectacle that had just taken place. She waited patiently while what she knew she must do sank in. There was one place that she was certain she'd be able to find her lost crest. Now all she needed was the courage to get there.

There was a definite buzz in the air at school the next day. The dance was that night, and the vast majority of the student body was ecstatic. But Sora didn't say a word to anyone; she let them assume what they wanted.

However, at home that night, she was swept up in a flurry of her own activity. Hours before they'd been set to leave, she called Tai.

"Tai? It's Sora. I need you to come over."

"Sora? I'm not ready yet…"

"That's fine. That's good, actually."

"Um, all right… I'll be there in, like, five minutes."

They hung up, satisfied on Sora's end. She herself wasn't dressed up, and she had no plans to get ready. In fact, her schedule for the night had drastically changed.

Tai arrived, looking just a little bit dazed, and she dragged him inside, right past her mother and into her room, shutting the door behind her. Filled with determination, she sat him down on her unmade bed and attempted to explain her situation. Somewhere near the middle of her speech, she saw the change she'd been expecing. The one that told her she'd been right in going to Tai. He started to sit up a little straighter, eyes focused intently and solely on her.

"And you think you can get it back in the Digiworld?"

"I do," she said confidently. "But I need your help."

He smiled at her and thumped a fist to his chest. "Don't worry, Sora. You can count on me."

Had she been able to feel any sort of compassion or gratitude towards him she would have smiled back. "I know."

**Review please! **

**I don't own Digimon! **

**While this will be focused somewhat around Taiora and romance, I really wanted to write an adventure story. (: **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the wait. I've been pretty slow with updates on all of my stories lately… **

**So, I'd originally planned to make this story mainly about Sora, and it will still focus on her a lot, but now I'm going to be… splitting the POVs almost… This way, it'll be a little clearer that this is happening to all the Digidestined, not just Sora.**

**Chapter Two**

The scene would have been so much more perfect, not to mention the situation easier, had he actually had a mirror available. But for now, he could improvise. Matt was observing his reflection in the windowpane when his younger brother walked in.

The sight brought a smile to the younger blond's face. The window didn't have the best reflective qualities, and Matt's nose was just inches from the glass.

"What are you _doing_?" he asked with a slight laugh then frowned. A lot had changed since they'd left the Digital World. TK in particular had grown up quite a bit. His voice was just starting to change, and he wasn't sure he liked it. But, alas…

Matt jumped at his words, bumping his nose against the window with a soft thud.

"Ah! TK! What are you doing in here?" His tone was more one of semi-embarrassed surprise than anger.

"Well, your door _is_ open," TK pointed out.

"Uh, right. So what did you want?" TK couldn't help but notice how flustered his brother was as he returned to his preening. Recently, Matt's band had actually come together. His brother had soared through their first few performances. The crowds hadn't even fazed him. So what could be making him nervous now?

"Is everything all right?" TK asked.

"What? Yeah, why?"

"You're acting like you're about to get married. It's just a school dance. And you don't even have a date." Almost instantly, TK wished he could take back his last words. Recently, his brother had acquired quite the throng of admirers, but TK knew the only girl Matt was really interested in was Sora. And _she_ was going with his best friend. It had to hurt. Yet Matt didn't show any of that pain outright. Instead he just shrugged.

"Maybe I'll end up going with someone. You never know. So I figured I might as well look my best just in case, right?"

Matt turned back once more, suddenly glad he didn't have a mirror so that his brother couldn't see his frown. There was something wrong with him; he just wasn't sure what it was. It was like something was hijacking his thoughts.

Traitorous ideas had taken root in his mind. Sora had always been pretty in her own way. Beautiful even. Maybe her beauty wasn't as flashy as, say, Mimi's, but her own glow was there. He had to admit that his heart had fallen a little when Tai had begun to notice her _that way_.

But lately, he'd begun to see the situation in a new light. _Go for it, _he thought now. _The worst she can do is turn you down. And that applies to Tai too. You can't lose what you never had._

A part of him had always shot those thoughts down. In a medieval, betrothal sort of way, Sora had always belonged to Tai. There wasn't a single boy in their school who didn't know it. That was just how it was, even if Tai himself didn't realize it.

_If Tai can't see what he's got, he doesn't deserve her, _he thought now. _What if Sora wants to be free?_

Immediately, he ground his teeth together, wishing he could take it back even though he had not spoken aloud. Perhaps he'd finally gone too far. How could he do that to his best friend? He had the Crest of _Friendship_, for god's sake! Turn your back on your own true nature and all hell was sure to break loose.

He reached into his pocket and squeezed his Digivice. He'd taken to carrying it around with him lately. It seemed to bring him back whenever he was in danger of drifting away. But tonight it remained lifeless.

"Enough about me," he said, doing his best to shake it off and even managing a wry smirk. "Where's _your _love life going?"

TK shrugged, his own eyes dimming a bit. "Nowhere, as far as I can tell," he answered. "I have plans to hang out with Kari tonight, though."

Earlier, this prospect had energized him. Now something just seemed… off. Whenever he'd thought of the future, it had always been so bright. Now that shine seemed to be fading. But his words had brought a genuine smile to Matt's face.

"Well, don't let me keep you, then. Go on, get out of here," his brother said with a playful shove.

…

Kari had passed through the day in a daze, but no one had said anything so she figured she must be hiding it pretty well.

Something was wrong. It wasn't just a feeling that something bad was going to happen; the whole world seemed off-balance.

Kari had always been a little more attuned to the world's woes and triumphs. She was Light, after all. And today, the darkness was stifling. Oh, yes. Something was definitely wrong.

She staggered over to the couch, her vision blurred. She had come out of her room to wait for TK, but now her mind was elsewhere.

Kari thought she heard the door being opened and her name being called, but it was hard to tell over the roaring in her ears. There was one final wave of utter despair before the darkness swallowed her up.

**Review please!**

**Anyone who's kept up with my other stories knows how awful I am about updating. So… yeah…**

**I don't own Digimon.**

**Merry Christmas and various other holidays, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! Okay, so I have to say that I've probably earned my title as the world's worst updater. Would you like to know how you got this update? Well, a couple days ago, I decided that I was going to update my Kingdom Hearts story. (Which has also been sorely neglected.) One random Harry Potter one-shot and this update later, and I still haven't gotten around to updating the other one. I swear, my inspiration muse is having a nice old laugh at somebody's expense.**

**That said, thank you to **Professor Pajamas, Sweet Cari, Digi Yo, Ang91, Supershooter, **and **Pixie the Vulpix **for reviewing the last two chapters. **

**Chapter Three**

There was something comforting, nostalgic even, about being whirled through the dimensions. The two Digidestined were lucky to avoid any major drops from the sky this time. They ended up flat on their backs, winded by touching the ground so suddenly.

A journey such as this always has quite the impact on its travelers, and this was no exception. This time, however, these changes were not for the better. Sora had begun this little quest in the hopes of finding herself again. Unfortunately, it was hard to find one's best qualities in the realm of the Dark.

It can be assumed that no one ventures into this realm voluntarily. However, whether consciously or not, this was where they had ended up.

Sora had numbed to such realizations long before they'd left their homes behind, but Tai immediately knew something was wrong. He could tell something had altered within the Digital World if only because something was so blatantly wrong within himself.

Tai, the Digidestineds' confidant, headstrong leader wasn't so sure of this journey anymore. He was suddenly hyperaware of everything that could possibly go wrong- everything he'd always been blind to in the past. He found himself wishing that he'd been able to talk her out of this, that they'd stayed home.

It was a jarring feeling. One that forced all his willpower into pushing it away. Tai quickly got to his feet and helped Sora to hers. He hurried them on their way… before that doubt could take over.

…

The lights were colored and flashing haphazardly. The music was turned up to an uncomfortable volume. People were dancing far too closely, and Joe suspected that something had been snuck into the bowl of sickly-colored punch on the refreshments table. In other words, it was your typical high school dance.

It was almost funny how they could all sense when something was wrong. Though they all seemed to have drifted apart a bit since their return, the Digidestined were still a team. The connection they shared was impossible to break. The setting was right, but none of them were much in the mood to dance. Gradually, they'd all drifted together to clump around a table. Well, almost all of them.

"Where are Tai and Sora?" asked Mimi.

Joe glanced at her worriedly. He, too, had noticed their absence, but it was Mimi he was fretting about. The girl had been acting oddly all night. Mimi, though cheerful and outgoing, didn't always make friends well. Especially not on a night like tonight when all the other girls were so self-conscious. Mimi always gave her honest opinion, even though it wasn't always the one that people wanted to hear.

Tonight she had complimented everyone. Her words were easy, almost careless, and Joe could tell that by no means did she actually believe everything she said. It worried him, but he didn't have time to dwell on it now. For Mimi wasn't the only one acting strangely.

If one thing was clear it was that Matt had certainly noticed the lack of Tai and Sora's presence as well, and it seemed to have put him in a particularly foul mood. Joe thought that they all suspected that Matt was at least a little jealous of Tai's relationship with Sora, but he made a point of not letting it show. Tonight he seemed to have no qualms about this.

Joe sighed. What was happening to them all?

"Who knows," said Izzy, in response to Mimi's question.

Matt scowled down at the tablecloth, this clearly not being the answer he had wanted to hear. "Well, wherever they are, I sure hope they're enjoying themselves," he said bitterly.

Matt stood abruptly and forced his way out of the room. Mimi floated back among the dancers, and Izzy stayed somewhat awkardly by his side. Joe stared after them both, knowing something was wrong, but not able to bring himself to actually go after either of them.

His own lack of action made him wonder if perhaps the one he should be most worried about was himself.

…

Kari floated in the deepest depths of the Dark realm, not sure of anything anymore.

She felt like the Light inside of her had flickered and gone out. The overwhelming despair had taken over her very being, and she was just about ready to give in when she heard a frantic voice.

"Kari! Kari, please! You've got to wake up! _Kari_!"

The voice was familiar. TK? What was TK doing here? She didn't want him in such an awful place. The thought troubled her.

And then there was another voice, equally familiar, but much more calm.

"Kari," the voice prodded urgently. "Kari, you are the Warrior of Light. You don't belong here in the Dark. You have to wake up. Wake up!"

It was this voice that brought her back. The Light returned suddenly, but not in a painful way. She was welcomed back into her own realm and woke to see TK's panicked face looming above her. But there was someone else here now as well. Perched on her table was a large white cat standing on two legs with a whistle around her neck.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried, recognizing the other voice and throwing her arms around her old friend.

"What's happening?" TK asked, still looking shaken up.

The Digimon's expression was grim. "There isn't much time to explain. What's the quickest way to get in contact with everyone else?"

**Review please!**

**I don't own Digimon.**

**Yes, I am that cruel. You've waited this long… and you're still going to have to wait at least one more chapter before the plot gets explained. Muwahahahahaha! (:**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Joe was so lost in thought, he was badly startled when his phone lit up. He was even more surprised when he could actually hear the ring over the music. He grabbed the phone and headed out into the hallway where, he hoped, he'd be able to hear himself think.

"Hello?" Even out in the hallway, the walls pulsed with the beat of the song that was playing, and he had to shout to be heard.

"Joe?"

"TK?"

"Why are you shouting?"

"It's too loud in here; I can barely hear you. What did you want?"

"Listen, I need you to round up everyone else and meet me at Tai's house." There was an urgency in his voice that was impossible to miss.

They said their goodbyes and Joe hung up, his hands shaking slightly. Why did people always turn to him for leadership when Tai wasn't available? He was a sheep! He didn't like to give orders. He doubted himself too much. All the same, he couldn't back down from the responsibility now. He forced himself to go back into the gym.

"Izzy!" he called. "Get Mimi and meet me in front of the school." The younger boy nodded and Joe left in search of Matt. However, he only got a few feet down the hall before he realized that he had no idea where his friend had gone.

Where would he go if he were Matt? Scratch that. Where would he go if he were Matt enraged at Tai running off with Sora? He began walking.

**…**

Tai breathed in the cool mountain air. What were the chances that a random trip would bring them back to Infinity Mountain? But he couldn't completely bring himself to calm down. That uncharacteristic undercurrent of worry was still there.

The same could not be said of Sora. While he stood at the peak of the mountain, staring out at the waves, she paced behind him in an agitated manner.

"We should get going," she said at last when his silence became too much for her. "This world may still be a few hours behind, but time moves like it does on Earth now. It should be getting dark soon."

"Get going where?" Tai replied. The longer he spent in the Digital World, the more prominent the change he was experiencing within himself seemed to become. He wasn't looking forward to the adventure that the risks and all the unknowns were sure to bring. They had no plan whatsoever and no idea where Agumon and Biyomon might be. How were they supposed to defend themselves if they ran into trouble? Sora was right about one thing; night would be falling soon. But this gave Tai no motivation to go dashing off into the wilderness, searching for some way to right the wrong that had been committed- whatever that was.

"Where? To find Gennai," she answered impatiently, as if they had discussed this.

"And what's Gennai going to do?" he asked, moving away from the edge of the cliff but still going far too slowly for her liking.

"I don't know. He's one of the wisest people in the Digital World; he's got to have some idea what's going on. Why are you being so difficult?"

Tai just stared at her for a moment before moving forward. "It's nothing. Come on, let's go."

**…**

Joe was fairly pleased when he found Matt pacing the length of the soccer field. His detective skills weren't so shoddy after all. He watched the blond kick at a tuft of grass and plop down onto the ground. It wasn't until Joe got closer that he realized that his friend was staring at the Digivice he held in his hand.

"Matt?" His voice was cautious, not nearly urgent enough for the situation at hand, but Joe never had been a particularly bold person.

"What?"

"TK called. He said there's something important going on, and we have to meet him at Kari and Tai's house."

Matt just stared at him for a moment. "Why did he tell _you_?"

Joe decided to give his friend the benefit of the doubt and assume that Matt wasn't _trying _to insult him. It's likely that Matt wouldn't have noticed even if Joe _had_ taken offense. He was busy rifling through his phone. He stopped when he spotted the missed call from his brother.

For a moment, Matt could do little more than stare at the screen. Had he really been so caught up in his anger that he hadn't even heard his cell phone ring?

Joe watched his friend apprehensively. Matt's eyes were still clouded over by some dark force, but he was starting to appear a little more lucid. Joe wasn't sure how responsible he was being- Matt was clearly in no state to be rushing off into a crisis. But Matt had always come through for them before, and it wasn't really like they could afford to be picky.

**…**

Kari never thought she'd be so relieved that her parents weren't home just so she could have people over. Granted, it wasn't exactly a party, though one may mistake it for one at first glance. All of the remaining digidestined had stuffed themselves into the Kamiya's living room, looking somewhat out of place in their prom attire.

Her relief at the lack of her parents' presence had nothing to do with having her friends over- she was sure that would have been fine. But her life seemed to be taking a turn for the crazy once again, and her parents still only had a loose understanding of the Digital World.

So here they sat, crammed into chairs and squeezed together on the couch so they could all have a clear view of Gatomon, who was standing atop the coffee table, center stage.

"What's going on?" Mimi sounded a little peeved as she shifted in her dress from where she sat on the couch, trying to make herself comfortable. "And where are Tai and Sora?"

"That's why we're here. They're gone," said Kari. She tried to ignore the tone of the older girl's voice. She could tell something was off with all of her friends, but that darkness she'd felt earlier was still in the back of her consciousness, threatening to overwhelm her. Working to keep that in check, she had to push forward.

"Listen up," said Gatomon. "I assumed he was overreacting when Gennai told me to come here and collect all of you, but things are worse than I thought. Gennai said he sensed a dark force in the Digital World, and that dark force is slowly shaping to take on the attributes of the life forces of all of you."

There was silence as she paused to let this sink in.

"How is that even possible?" Joe asked, the fear evident in his voice.

"We don't know," Gatomon replied grimly. "But these other life forces are gaining power- threatening to take over your very existences from a whole other dimension away. I'm sure you've all begun to feel the effects of that already. For whatever reason, this hit Sora particularly hard. She and Tai have entered the Digital World already, but we haven't been able to locate them yet."

"So what do you need us to do?" Matt asked, his mindset suited for their mission.

"We want you all to accompany me back to the Digital World. If we confront these forces head-on, they shouldn't be able to stand up to the real thing. That's what Gennai and I hope anyway…"

"We can do it!" Kari proclaimed, her optimism only for show.

"I know it's urgent and all, but shouldn't we go home and change first?" said Mimi gesturing to their formal clothing.

"I hate to be caught up by something so superficial," added Izzy, "but Mimi's right this time; we're in no sort of attire to go traipsing around the Digital World."

"What do you mean _this time_?" Mimi griped, but all of the older digidestined were already on their way out of the apartment.

Gatomon watched their departure with a sigh. "Humans…"

**Review please!**

**I don't own Digimon. **

**It's strange that I'm always content with where the chapters end, because I feel like so little happens in each chapter. Which is also why it is probably going to take forever to finish it… **

**Thank you to **Ang91, xx nope. xx, dbzgtfan2004, guest, **and **The Keeper of Worlds **for reviewing chapter three! **

**Sorry this took so long, hopefully the next will be up soon. **


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